unprecedented

Jan. 14 (UPI) — NASA’s Crew-11 returned safely to Earth on Thursday after the first ever medical evacuation from the International Space Station.

The agency posted a video online of SpaceX‘s Dragon space capsule carrying American astronauts Zena Cardman and Michael Fincke, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov and Kimiya Yui of Japan, splashing down in the Pacific off the coast of San Diego at 3.41 a.m. EST.

“Welcome home! Splashdown of Crew-11 after 167 days in space,” NASA announced.

NASA also posted a photo of the crew inside their capsule after splashdown.

A medical issue with one astronaut prompted NASA to evacuate a crew from the station for the first time in its almost three-decade-long history.

It was not clear which of the four developed the medical issue sometime in the five months from when Crew-11 blasted off from Kennedy Space Center on Aug. 1 and Jan. 7 when NASA announced a crew member had a “serious medical condition.”

The issue was not deemed an emergency, but NASA officials opted to cut short the mission by a month and evacuate all Crew-11 members, with the four departing the ISS on Wednesday afternoon to head back to Earth.

“It is not an emergency de-orbit, even though we always retain that capability and NASA and our partners train for that routinely,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman told media on Jan. 7.

“The capability to diagnose and treat this properly does not live on the International Space Station,” Isaacman said.

NASA officials did not identify the affected crew member or the medical condition prompting the evacuation, but they said the individual is in stable condition.

The matter arose when a medical issue reported on Jan. 7 forced NASA to delay a planned spacewalk on Thursday that involved the affected astronaut.

Cardman and Fincke were scheduled to do the postponed spacewalk, which narrows the medical condition to one of those two.

NASA chief medical officer Dr. James Polk said the medical issue involves microgravity and is not caused by an injury or an operational issue.

The limited ability to diagnose the medical condition required the evacuation, and the affected astronaut is expected to recover.

While the medical evacuation is the first in the history of the ISS, Polk said statistical analysis suggested such issues should arise about every three years aboard the orbiting science lab.

The departure of the four Crew-11 members leaves the ISS with a skeleton crew of three until replacements are deployed.

Those three are astronaut Christopher Williams and cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikayev, who arrived at the ISS on Nov. 27 after being conveyed by a Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

The SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule Endeavor carried the four to the ISS on Aug. 1, and their six-month deployment was nearing its end when they were ordered to return to Earth.

“We’re always going to do the right thing for our astronauts, but it’s recognizing it’s the end of the mission right now,” Isaacman said of the medical evacuation.

“They’ve achieved almost all of their mission objectives,” he added. “Crew-12 is going to launch in a matter of weeks, anyway.”

Isaacman said the spaceship is ready and the weather is ideal, making it an “opportune time” to bring them home.

Police in the Netherlands were pelted with fireworks and faced an “unprecedented amount of violence” on New Year’s Eve, officers have said.

A 19th century church in Amsterdam was engulfed by fire in the early hours of New Year’s Day, although the cause of the blaze is not yet known.

The Vondelkerk, which overlooks the largest park in the city, the Vondelpark, has been a tourist attraction since it was built in 1872.

Elsewhere in the Netherlands, a 17-year-old boy and 38-year-old man were killed in fireworks incidents. In Bielefeld, Germany, local police said two 18-year-olds died after setting off homemade fireworks.

The head of the Dutch Police Union, Nine Kooiman, said she had been pelted by fireworks and other explosives on her shift in Amsterdam.

The amount of violence was “unprecedented” she said.

Reports of attacks against police and firefighters were widespread across the country.

Petrol bombs were thrown at police in the southern city of Breda. In Rotterdam, the city’s eye hospital said it had treated 14 patients, including 10 minors, for eye injuries. Two received surgery.

A 17-year-old boy from Nijmegen and a 38-year-old man from Aalsmeer were killed in fireworks incidents, local media reported.

In Amsterdam the 50-metre high tower of the historic Vondelkerk church collapsed. Authorities said the roof was badly damaged but the structure was expected to remain intact.

The neo-Gothic basilica was designed by architect Pierre Cuypers whose works also include the Rijksmuseum.

A ban on unofficial fireworks is due to come into force in 2026. According to the Dutch Pyrotechnics Association, a record €129m (£112m) had been spent on them this year.

Airports outside London are set to be ‘most extreme’ as they face ‘unprecedented’ rises

Air travellers are being urged to prepare for soaring ticket prices as regional airports throughout the UK brace for “unprecedented” property tax increases next year. An examination of official Government figures for the Press Association has shown that regional airports are among those confronting the sharpest business rates rises of any industry in the UK during a comprehensive overhaul of property assessments that determine the levy.

While London’s Heathrow and Gatwick are also being hammered with staggering business rates increases, the data reveals that the most severe cases are concentrated beyond London, with regional airports poised to bear the brunt. Global tax consultancy Ryan’s analysis of Valuation Office Agency (VOA) figures discovered that rateable values have rocketed more than six times over in certain instances during the latest property reassessment, causing tax demands to skyrocket.

Despite so-called transitional relief, which caps rises at 30% next year, regional airports will still face some of the most substantial cash hikes nationwide. The majority of airports will witness their bills more than treble over the coming three years.

Manchester Airport stands among the hardest hit, with its business rates demand poised to leap by £4.2 million to £18.1 million next year, Ryan’s figures show. Bristol Airport will experience a £1.2 million jump to £5.2 million, whilst Birmingham International Airport anticipates a £1.8 million surge to £7.6 million.

Newcastle International Airport faces a £244,755 rise to £1.1 million. Alex Probyn, who leads property tax practice for Europe and Asia-Pacific at Ryan, said: “With an unprecedented 295% sector-wide uplift, regional airports simply cannot absorb a cost shock of this magnitude. These increases will inevitably flow through the system: first into airport charges, then into airline costs, and ultimately into ticket prices.”

Airport operators have raised concerns that this tax hike could stifle investment in the sector.

A spokesperson from Manchester Airports Group said: “Airports were already some of the highest rates-payers in the country and were prepared to pay significantly more. But increases of more than 100% mean we have to look again at our plans to invest more than £2 billion in our airports across the UK over the next five years.

“It is inevitable air travel will become more expensive as the industry absorbs these costs. That impacts hard-working people throughout the country and makes global trade harder for businesses.”

AirportsUK, the trade group representing the sector, is formulating a response to the Treasury’s consultation on the business rates plan, which concludes in February. It criticised the plans as “short-sighted” and warned they will “have a knock-on effect for the businesses that depend on airport connectivity in all areas of England”. This threatens to “negatively impacting local economies that depend on the supply chains, tourists and connections their airports provide”, the organisation warned.

The group emphasised the significance of government intervention: “That is why the long-term review into how airport business rates are calculated, also announced by Government, is so important and we will engage with Treasury to ensure this delivers the positive outcome airports need to drive investment and economic growth.”

Additional regional airports bracing for colossal rate hikes include Liverpool Airport facing a £233,100 surge to £1 million, East Midlands International Airport confronting a £437,895 leap to £1.9 million and Bournemouth Airport dealing with a £102,398 jump to £443,723.